Rule Against Perpetuities: An Interest too Remote Cannot Not be Severed, Making Deed Void
, 222 P.3d 1117 (Or. Ct. App. 2009): A deed purported to convey the grantor’s real property to her sons, in trust, to provide a “place of rest, recreation and recuperation” for her children, grandchildren, and “descendants.” There was no time limit on the trust nor any ultimate vesting of any interest in the realty and, therefore, the trust violated the Rule Against Perpetuities.
On appeal from a decree severing the children’s interests from those of the more remote generations and thus reforming the trust to remove the perpetuities violation, the Oregon intermediate appellate court reversed. Oregon’s version of the USRAP makes reformation of instruments predating enactment of the uniform act optional with the court. Here reformation by severance was not appropriate because the deed expressed the grantor’s intent to benefit all of her beneficiaries equally, making a severance which preserved only the children’s interest contrary to her intent.